


can't catch a break

by nicole_writes



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: And wrote this whole thing in 3 hours, Crack, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Sincerely, So I took requests, THIS FIC IS A JOKE AND SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, The Sylvgrid discord watched the birth of this, and i apologize for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26298580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicole_writes/pseuds/nicole_writes
Summary: Sylvain just wants to enjoy his date with Ingrid. The rest of the Monastery seems insistent on making that as difficult as possible.
Relationships: Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 16
Kudos: 39





	can't catch a break

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The Entire Sylvgrid Discord](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=The+Entire+Sylvgrid+Discord).



> Please, please, please do not take this seriously. This fic was written as a compilation of crackfic suggestions given to me by the sylvgrid discord server which I then Frankenstein'd into a fic while like 9-11 people watched me attempt to write it. It was written in three hours and not edited at all and it's not supposed to be taken seriously. 
> 
> Still, I hope you get a laugh out of the madness that this involved. But, yeah, if you want more craziness like this or like the Ferdinand von Aegir chaos that occurs on a regular basis, join us in the Sylvgrid Discord! We have fun...probably too much of it Join us here -> https://discord.gg/YKcASY9

Sylvain was nervous. He was totally, completely unreasonably and entirely nervous. He was pacing his room, one hand in his hair and the other hand rubbing the bottom of his face. Hilda was lying back on his bed, ignoring him. 

“Hilda!” Sylvain snapped, cutting off his pacing to stare at her. “Can you actually help me?”

She sat up, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “Look, Sylvain, you’re being unreasonable. We’ve established that this is you freaking out over nothing. She said yes, didn’t she?”

Sylvain groaned. “Get out of my room. You’re being unhelpful.”

Hilda laughed and stood up. “I’ll see you later, Sylvain.” She walked out of his room and Sylvain sighed. 

He straightened his blazer and ran his hands through his hair trying to flatten it out. It was kind of a futile effort because his hair stayed as messy as always. He had half a mind to go search for Felix to get a hair tie to keep it back, but he was already running late and didn’t really have the time to kill. 

Sylvain took a bracing breath and walked out of his room. 

The hallway in the dormitory was empty, thankfully, and Sylvain headed down the hall towards the opposite end. He passed by Dimitri and Felix’s rooms with no issues, but when he passed Claude’s room, he almost tripped on a stack of books that was propping the door open. He paused, nudging the door open, but Claude was nowhere to be seen. 

Sylvain rolled his eyes and continued on down the hall, towards his intended destination. 

He was almost there when the door next to Ingrid’s opened and the door nearly smacked him in the face. Sylvain staggered back, throwing his hands up and just barely managed to catch the door before it broke his nose. 

“Crikey!”

Marianne, the source of the opening door, yelped and she quickly slammed the door shut behind her. “I’m sorry, Sylvain!”

Before he could say anything else to her, she was darting past him and he was left to stare after her. Sylvain shook his head and descended the last few steps to his intended destination. He raised his hand and knocked on Ingrid’s door. 

She opened it immediately and Sylvain suddenly felt like a complete idiot. 

Ingrid was wearing her usual uniform, but her hair was loose around her shoulders. She was also wearing the tiniest bit of make-up but it was just enough that her green eyes popped a little bit more than usual. Sylvain’s heart skipped a beat and he smiled on pure instinct. 

“Hi.”

She nervously brushed a strand of hair back. “Hi,” she replied. 

Sylvain stepped back, holding a hand out. “You ready?”

She nodded. “Nothing crazy today, right?”

Sylvain laughed. “No, I promise that there will be nothing _too_ wild today. I’ll save that for the second date.”

Ingrid rolled her eyes and stepped out of her room, closing the door behind her. She put a hand on her hip and tilted her head. “Alright, let’s go then.”

Sylvain held out a hand to her and Ingrid’s cheeks flushed, but she connected her hands in front of her stomach and turned away from him shyly. Sylvain quickly jerked his hand away, running it through his hair and looking away. 

“Sorry.”

Ingrid didn’t say anything, but she scuffed the toe of her shoe on the floor, still bright red. 

“Alright, let’s go,” Sylvain said, walking towards the staircase. 

Ingrid followed a step behind him, but as Sylvain rounded the corner to descend the stairs, Ingrid accidentally stepped on the back of his shoe and he almost fell straight down the stairs. It was only her instinct grab of the back of his jacket that saved him from plummeting down onto his face. 

Sylvain laughed nervously and straightened up, starting down the stairs like a normal person. There was a light touch on his left hand and he reflexively pulled it forward away from the touch only to realize that that had been Ingrid’s poor attempt at trying to hold his hand.

He kicked himself internally. 

When they reached the main floor, they were both immediately assaulted by the sound of yelling. Sylvain and Ingrid both stopped and exchanged a look. 

“Was that?” he asked.

“Annette?” Ingrid finished. 

Sylvain nodded and looked towards the greenhouse and the source of the yelling. “Maybe we should,” he trailed off as Ingrid brushed past him, towards the greenhouse entrance. 

He followed her just as Annette burst out of the greenhouse, her face bright red and her hands flailing. 

“Nope! Nope! No more songs! Ever again! I’m done!” she said hurriedly.

Sylvain blinked as Annette pushed past him and Ingrid, tearing away in the direction of the Training Grounds. Two steps behind her, Ferdinand burst out of the greenhouse, holding out his hand in the direction Annette had run off in. 

“No! Annette!” he sighed. 

“Uh, Ferdinand? Why are you chasing Annette?” Ingrid asked. 

Ferdinand sighed. “I heard her singing and I was just trying to give her a compliment. Apparently, that did not go as planned.”

Sylvain laughed. “Yeah, I mean, it’s Annette. She’s kind of bad at taking compliments.”

Ferdinand shook his head. “Oh well, I guess I’ll just find her later.”

He walked away and Sylvain looked at Ingrid, still mostly confused. Ingrid just laughed and Sylvain’s heart flipped.

“Let’s not stick around the greenhouse. Just in case they decide to come back,” Ingrid suggested. 

Sylvain nodded. “I like that plan. Dining hall?”

Ingrid brightened. “Yes, I like that idea.”

Sylvain waved forward and Ingrid led the way towards the fishing pond so that they could climb the stairs towards the dining hall. They got two steps up before there was a massive splash and they both froze. Sylvain turned around slowly, feeling afraid of what he would see. 

Flayn stood on the end of the pier, her hands clapped over her mouth. Sylvain looked down at the water just as Seteth’s head broke the surface of the water. Rhea’s advisor was completely soaked and looked entirely unamused. 

“Uh, Ingrid,” Sylvain said, pointing towards Seteth. “Should we?”

Ingrid sighed. 

Before she could reply, Seteth was grumbling and pulling himself out of the water. Flayn laughed and clapped her hands together. 

"Oh goodness. I had not intended for...well, this," Seteth grumbled. 

Flayn laughed. “Good one, Brother! You almost had the fish!”

Ingrid grabbed Sylvain’s arm and dragged him up the rest of the way to the Dining hall. “I’m not dealing with that,” she muttered. 

As soon as they entered the Dining Hall, Sylvain had to duck out of the way of an errant Fire spell. He almost managed to drag Ingrid to the ground with him, before he managed to regain his balance. Sylvain straightened up and searched the hall for the source of the errant spell. 

Mercedes was sitting nearby, laughing into her hands while Hubert shook out his hand, scowling. Ingrid patted Sylvain’s shoulder and dropped his arm, walking over to Mercedes. Sylvain trailed after her, feeling a little embarrassed. 

“What was that about?” Ingrid was asking as he approached them. 

“Just working on some Faith magic,” Mercedes said, giggling again. 

Sylvain furrowed his brow. “That was a Fire spell.”

“I never said I was good at this, alright?” Hubert growled. 

He pushed himself up from the table and walked away. Sylvain and Ingrid watched Hubert walk away. Ingrid laughed and Mercedes just brushed back some of her long hair. 

“We were working on it,” Mercedes said lightly. 

Sylvain shook his head. “Alright, well, Ingrid, should we go get some food?”

Ingrid nodded. “Right! We’ll see you later, Mercedes.”

“Enjoy your date!” Mercedes called after them as they walked away. 

Sylvain threw an arm around Ingrid and ushered her away more quickly. He didn’t really want to listen to Mercedes laugh at them awkwardly trying to enjoy a date during a free day at the monastery. 

As they approached the kitchen, Sylvain was immediately assaulted by the smell of burning food. He stopped and Ingrid frowned. 

“That,” she muttered, “cannot be good.”

The smell of burning food was immediately followed by a plume of smoke coming from the kitchen. Lysithea immediately burst out of the kitchen, waving a flaming teatowel. She dropped it to the floor and stamped it out, scowling fiercely. 

Dedue followed Lysithea out of the kitchen, waving a second, not-on-fire towel, to clear the smoke. He sighed.

“I’m really not sure how you did that,” Dedue said to Lysithea. 

Lysithea folded her arms and scowled deeper. “I like sweets. I never said that I was good at baking them.”

Dedue chuckled. “How about you leave the rest of today’s meal preparation to me?”

Sylvain was about to ask Dedue what food was ready when Ingrid grabbed his arm and pulled him away, towards the back of the dining hall and the entrance hall. 

“Let’s just come back later,” Ingrid suggested. 

Sylvain laughed and let her pull him. He tried to slide his arm up to take her hand, but the combination of walking and moving threw him off just enough that he pulled his arm free entirely. Ingrid looked almost offended, but she turned away from him before he could really register the expression on her face. 

He followed her out of the Dining Hall into the Entrance Hall. Ingrid had stopped short and was looking at the odd trio in standing at the top of the stairs. Byleth waved at the two of them and Ingrid seemed to take it as summons and walked towards them. Sylvain sighed and followed her.

This date was already not going the way it was supposed to. 

“Hello Ingrid, hello Sylvain,” Claude greeted, tucking his hands behind his head and rocking back on his heels, grinning widely. “I guess since you’re here you can help me get a one-up on Hilda.”

Sylvain frowned. “On Hilda?”

Byleth sighed. “Claude, please.

He laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Teach.”

“Sylvain, Ingrid, you should,” Dimitri began, but he was cut off by Claude stepping forward. 

Claude grabbed Sylvain by the front of his jacket and kissed him straight on the lips. Sylvain flailed uselessly for a second before Claude stepped back. Claude grinned and spun. He grabbed Dimitri and kissed him on the cheek. He winked at Byleth and walked away, humming to himself. 

Sylvain blinked like an idiot. He looked at Byleth and Dimitri and then looked at Ingrid. “What just happened?”

Byleth rolled her eyes. “Claude and Hilda apparently made a bet to see who could kiss more people today.”

Ingrid’s mouth dropped open. “Um, why Sylvain?”

Dimitri raised a hand. “I think it’s because he assumed that that would be the person that Hilda would be more interested in kissing. They’re apparently not allowed to kiss the same person.”

Sylvain buried his face in his hands. “What the fuck!” he grumbled softly. 

Ingrid patted his shoulder awkwardly. “Uh, it’s alright Sylvain, let’s just keep going.”

Sylvain threw his hands out. “How do I just walk away from that?”

Byleth stepped back to avoid getting hit in the face, but because of course, she was positioned just perfectly at the top of the stairs where when she stepped back, she immediately started falling _down_ the stairs. 

Ingrid and Dimitri lunged for her, but they were both too late as the three Blue Lions could only watch helplessly as Byleth tumbled down the stairs until she lay at the bottom in a crumpled heap. Sylvain didn’t hesitate, tearing down the stairs after their professor.

“Professor! Are you alright?”

He tugged on her shoulder, rolling her over and noticed that she was just laughing. Byleth sat up, wiping her eyes. 

“I’m perfectly fine, Sylvain, don’t worry.”

He sighed. “God, this is just not my day.”

He helped her up and she patted his shoulder condescendingly. “You’ll figure it out. Don’t worry. I know there are a few food stalls in the market that Ingrid might enjoy.”

Sylvain grinned. “You’re the best, Professor!” He turned, looking back up the stairs at Ingrid and Dimitri. “Hey, Ingrid, do you want to go grab something to eat from the market?”

Ingrid sighed in relief when she saw the professor was okay, but she descended the stairs towards him. “Yeah, I would love to.”

“Great!”

Sylvain threw an arm over her shoulder and immediately guided her out of the Entrance Hall, away from Dimitri and the memory of Claude kissing him with absolutely no warning. He loosened his arm over her shoulder, but Ingrid stepped closer to him, letting him keep it slung across her shoulder. They nodded to the Gatekeeper as they passed him and he saluted them in response. 

Ingrid’s excitement over food seemed to outweigh her interest in standing next to Sylvain as when they entered the marketplace, she pulled away from him to approach the nearest food stall. Sylvain followed her, smiling at her, and he greeted the shopkeep with a nod. 

“I’ll pay for whatever she wants,” Sylvain says. 

Ingrid beamed. “Thank you!” She pointed out what she wanted and Sylvain almost regretted his decision to pay for the bottomless pit that was Ingrid’s stomach. 

Once he had handed over the money, he turned back to Ingrid who was staring at one of the bookshops nearby. Sylvain followed her gaze and saw Ashe standing outside of the shop, arms crossed, and speaking with Yuri. Sylvain immediately knew that he could not let Yuri see him and Ingrid, so he stepped between Ingrid and their other classmates, smiling down at her. 

He placed his hands on her shoulders and spun her back towards the Monastery. Ingrid sighed, but she didn’t resist his gentle push back towards where they had seen Dimitri and Byleth. 

She took a bite out of the skewer and gave him a sly grin. “So, what was up with that back there?”

Sylvain huffed. “Am I not allowed to want you to myself today? You did agree to the date, Sweetheart.”

Ingrid shoved him away. She was laughing a bit, but she hid it behind taking another bite of her food. “Just stop it. Just so you know, I want you all to myself today too.”

She stepped away from him, leading the way back into the Monastery. Sylvain blinked, his neck felt hot from Ingrid’s words, and then he broke into a jog to catch back up with her. 

“So, uh, can we talk about that?” he asked. 

Ingrid turned towards him, smiling faintly and flicked his nose. “Nope!” She turned away from him and waved at Ignatz who was walking through the hall to the market. 

He waved awkwardly back, looking between them before hurrying away, not lingering. Sylvain shrugged and turned back to Ingrid. 

“Well, where do you want to go now, Ingrid?”

“Training Grounds?” she suggested awkwardly. 

Sylvain laughed. “You know what? Sure. Let’s go to the Training Grounds.”

He hesitated for a moment before he held out his hand to her. Ingrid swapped the hand holding her food and slid her fingers in between his, linking their hands together. Sylvain grinned and pulled on her hand, ushering her forward. 

They walked in silence to the Training Grounds, their hands swinging between them as Ingrid finished off her food. When they reached their destination, Ingrid dropped his hand to open the door, leading the way inside. 

The grounds were busy, for a free day, and Sylvain looked around, assessing the various groupings that had formed. In the far corner, Caspar and Raphael were sparring and Hubert was hunched against a pillar, flipping through a magic tome. Felix was slashing at a training dummy and Sylvain could have sworn that he saw Bernadetta hiding behind a pillar, holding a sketchbook watching Felix. 

Annette and Hilda were the closest to Ingrid and Sylvain as they entered and Hilda immediately turned towards them. She grinned at Sylvain, letting her eyes track over Ingrid, noting the loose hair and light makeup that Ingrid was donning for the date. 

“Hello, you two,” Hilda teased. She put a hand on her hip and winked. “Have either of you seen Claude?”

Sylvain tried to conceal the blush he felt rising up his neck, but apparently he didn’t do a good enough job as Hilda burst out laughing and Annette blinked at Sylvain, looking confused. 

“So I’m guessing he kissed Sylvain then,” Hilda said to Ingrid. “Presuming that I would be more interested in that, right?”

Ingrid shrugged. “Beats me.”

Hilda grinned. “Look, Annette, as interesting as our conversation about axes was, I should get back to kicking Claude’s ass.” She leaned towards them, batting her eyes.

Annette looked even more confused at that, but Hilda just turned back to Ingrid and Sylvain was completely helpless as Hilda leaned up, tugging Ingrid down into a kiss. Hilda pulled back quickly and winked at her before she flounced off. 

Ingrid just blinked and touched her lips. She looked at Sylvain. “I understand where the confusion came from earlier.”

Sylvain shook his head and chuckled. He looked back at Annette. “Don’t worry about a thing, Annette.”

Annette just opened and closed her mouth and shook her head. “You know what? I’m not even going to ask.”

Sylvain grinned and looked past Annette towards Felix and Bernie. “Hey! Bernie! Getting some good sketches of Felix’s action form? Maybe you can use it as a reference later when you write some more of your story.”

Bernadetta’s head snapped towards him and she looked completely horrified that Sylvain was even talking to her. She snapped her sketchbook shut and took off running towards the entrance. Sylvain stood and watched her leave. She tended to do that whenever he tried to talk to her, so he wasn’t too surprised. 

Felix just narrowed his eyes at Sylvain and Ingrid and went right back to cutting up his training dummy. Ingrid sighed. Sylvain was about to suggest that they leave when Raphael called out to them. 

“Hey! Ingrid! Sylvain! Can you settle a score for us?”

Sylvain sighed. He just wanted to enjoy his damn date but, of course, there wasn’t a moment of privacy in the whole damn monastery. 

“Sure, Raphael,” he grumbled, “what can we help with?”

Raphael grinned. “So Caspar and I were trying to figure out who would win in a real fight. Hilda said Caspar, but Hubert said me.”

Caspar scoffed. “Hubert only voted for you because he hates me.”

Raphael laughed. “Nah, it’s obviously cuz my muscles are way bigger.”

Ingrid muffled a laugh. “I think it would end in a tie,” she suggested. “Maybe you guys should have a real spar. Maybe wrangle Felix in to.”

Sylvain nearly choked at the last part of her suggestion. Dragging Felix in meant that someone was going to leave with a black eye, but maybe it would create a big enough distraction that they could slip away and actually attempt to continue whatever messed up kind of date that they were on. 

Raphael seemed to brighten at the suggestion. “Thanks, Ingrid, that helps!”

He and Caspar both immediately turned away and Sylvain took advantage of the distraction and grabbed Ingrid’s wrist, hauling her away from whatever madness was about to go down in the Training Grounds. When they were outside, he dropped her wrist and looked at her. 

“Ingrid, why did you suggest the Training Grounds? Why?”

She giggled. “Honestly, no idea.”

Sylvain sighed. “Of course. Any more bright ideas?”

Ingrid elbowed him lightly. “Library?”

Sylvain shrugged. “There’s absolutely no way that this can go wrong, is there?”

* * *

There were indeed many ways that the Library was the worst idea that they’d had all afternoon. It started with Ashe, who had returned from the market, literally standing on Leonie’s shoulders to reach a high book and then falling, taking down the stacks of books that they were supposed to be putting back in a loud crash. 

Tomas glared for that, but Leonie and Ashe both apologized, promising to never do it again. 

It got worse, however, when Balthus slammed the library door open and pointed at Edelgard who had just been reading a book in the corner. Sylvain lowered the book he and Ingrid had been reading so that they had a clear view as Edelgard and Balthus sat across from each other at the library table. 

“Sylvain,” Ingrid muttered, “what is about to happen?”

“Honestly,” he whispered back to her, “I’m not entirely sure, but this is the best decision we have made all day.”

Ingrid smothered a giggle as Edelgard and Balthus leaned forward, linking their arms across the table. Sylvain dropped the book entirely as Balthus’s arm bulged as he and Edelgard immediately began an arm-wrestling competition. 

“What the fuck,” Sylvain breathed. “This is the best thing I’ve ever see.”

“Shut up, Sylvain.”

The contest of strength lasted for almost a full minute before Balthus swore loudly and Edelgard slammed his arm down against the table with a resounding thud. Balthus shot to his feet. 

“Come on, that wasn’t fair!”

Edelgard rolled her eyes. “Balthus. This is the third time this week. I’ve won all three times.”

Ingrid grabbed the book from Sylvain, closing it and putting back on the stack of books on the table next to them and then she grabbed his hand, linking their fingers together again. 

“Come on,” she whispered. “Let’s get out of here before they start yelling and Tomas actually kicks everyone out.”

Sylvain squeezed her hand. “Alright, I like that plan too.”

Ingrid led him out of the library by his hand and when she moved to drop it while outside, Sylvain swiftly caught her hand with his other hand and just started walking, keeping their hands linked. Ingrid coughed, a bit caught out by his action, but Sylvain just smirked to himself. 

They held hands all the way down back to the first floor and Sylvain walked, instinctually, towards the Knight’s Hall. Ingrid paused as they exited the monastery and dragged Sylvain to a stop with her. 

Before he could ask her what was wrong, he noticed where she was looking. Rodrigue Fraldarius was standing at the top of the stairs that led down into the cemetery. Sylvain was completely frozen, just staring at Felix’s father, but then Ingrid jerked him back the other way, practically breaking into a run. 

Sylvain followed and they ran halfway across the bridge towards the Cathedral before Sylvain stopped. They looked at each other and burst into laughter. Sylvain dropped Ingrid’s hand to wipe tears away from his eyes as they laughed together. 

“Why did we just run away from Felix’s father?” he asked her between laughs. 

Ingrid took a few deep breaths, controlling herself. “I think it was so that he couldn’t ask us about Felix?”

Sylvain practically snorted. “Right. That’s a stupid reason, but yeah, sounds about right.”

“Is that Ingrid? With Sylvain?”

They both turned to see Dorothea walking towards them on the bridge. She was smirking, looking eerily similar to the expression that Hilda had worn when they had seen her in the Training Hall. She put a hand on her hip. 

“What are my two favourite Faerghus nobles doing over here?” Dorothea asked. 

Ingrid blushed and looked down and Sylvain just narrowed his eyes at Dorothea, trying to send the strongest “go away” vibes he could muster. She just winked at him and kept pressing it. 

“You know, if you’re on a date, the Goddess Tower is probably free right now,” Dorothea teased. 

Sylvain was about to snap at her until he realized that Dorothea had a point. They had been trying all afternoon to find a little bit of privacy to actually enjoy this awkward date they were on, but they’d been unable to have hardly a breath of privacy. 

When Dorothea noticed that she seemed to have stunned both of them into silence, she clasped her hands together below her chin and batted her eyes at him. “Oh! And have you all seen Hubie? I’m supposed to be recruiting for choir and I _know_ that he can sing. Ferdie told me and everyone knows that Ferdie never tells a lie, ever. He’s got to stop hiding in Edie’s room whenever I try to talk to him.”

Sylvain stared at her. “Hubert can sing?”

Ingrid shook her head, nudging him forward towards the Cathedral, away from Dorothea. “Good luck finding Hubert, Dorothea,” she said evasively. 

Sylvain let Ingrid push him forward without digging his heels in until he was sure that they were far enough away from Dorothea that it was no longer weird. He stopped and turned to face her. 

“Hey,” he said gently, “is this okay?”

Ingrid stepped closer to him, making eye contact. “Sylvain, I agreed to this, you know that?”

He chuckled. “Just making sure I haven’t scared you off yet.”

She scoffed. “If you didn’t scare me off when we were kids, you’re not lucky enough to have chased me off yet.” She reached for his hand again and Sylvain surrendered it to her immediately and without pause. “Sylvain, would you like to go to the Goddess Tower with me?”

He smiled. “I’d love to.”

* * *

At the top of the Goddess Tower, it was the first time they’d had quiet all day. Ingrid leaned against him, resting her head against his shoulder and Sylvain rested his head against hers, sighing heavily. 

“You know, for some reason, I hadn’t pictured that it would be this difficult to find some damn quiet here today.”

Ingrid laughed. “Come on, Sylvain. You know exactly what our friends are like. How did you honestly not expect literally everything to go wrong today?”

Sylvain huffed. “Well I hope not everything went wrong,” he grumbled. 

Ingrid patted his knee. “I mean Dorothea supported my suspicion that Edelgard might have had a crush on Hubert at some point or another if she’s been letting him hide out in her room. Plus, we know that Claude and Hilda are both actually insane.”

Sylvain laughed, throwing his head back. “God, they’re insane. Actually insane.”

Ingrid held out her hand to him. He took it and ran his thumb along the back of her hand, tracing light circles into her skin.

“I had a good day, Sylvain, as messy as it felt. It was fun.”

He turned his head towards her, looking down at her. He swallowed roughly and his breath hitched at how close they were. “You had fun?”

“I did,” she confirmed. 

“Would you want to do it again?”

Ingrid smiled faintly. “Maybe,” she teased. 

“Yeah?” Sylvain asked, leaning in a tiny bit. 

* * *

Almost two hours later, they were walking hand-in-hand back to the dorms. They crossed the grass, passing the lower level of student dorms. Most of the doors were closed because the rooms were empty, but Linhardt’s door was wide open. Sylvain, purely out of curiosity, peeked towards Linhardt’s room and saw the Empire noble passed out face-down on his bed. 

Ingrid dragged him away before he could burst out laughing.

She rolled her eyes and just dragged him to the stairs up to the second floor. Before Sylvain could follow her up the stairs, she dropped his hand and pushed him by the shoulder so that he was standing two steps below her. She turned to face him and Sylvain caught her hand again, bringing it up to his face, kissing her palm as he smiled. 

She shook her head fondly but then leaned across, leaning down to him since she was now taller than him, and kissed him lightly. Sylvain hummed into the kiss and then Ingrid pulled away. 

“I’ll see you later, Sylvain,” Ingrid said. 

“I don’t even get to walk you to your door?” Sylvain asked, still standing at the bottom of the stairs. 

“Nope!” she called as she disappeared up the stairs away from him. 

Sylvain gave her three full seconds before he broke into a run up the stairs after her.


End file.
